Body Image Dissatisfaction Among Third, Fourth, and Fifth Grade Children. Part 3
MANOVA results indicated a significant difference between grades regarding ideal self (how the participants want to look) (p = .008). Tukey Post hoc comparison indicated that the difference was significant between grades 3 and 5 (p = .011) where third grade children (girls and boys combined) selected a mean score for ideal self of 3.28 (SD = .09), while fifth grade children selected a mean score of 3.62 (SD =.08).
A significant difference was found between genders in regards to what they view as what is best for the opposite gender to look like (p = .039). Girls selected a mean score of 3.75 (.06) as an ideal figure for the boys, while the boys selected a mean score of 3.59 (.05) as an ideal figure for the girls. Additionally, a significant difference was found between genders regarding the difference between current self minus ideal self (p = .025). Mean score for current self among girls was 3.97 while the mean score for ideal self was 3.41, resulting in a difference of .56. The mean score for current self among boys was 3.84 while the mean score for ideal self was 3.52, resulting in a difference of .32.
When examining the level of body dissatisfaction by grade, 48.7% of third grade girls and 45.3% of third grade boys wanted to be thinner than their current body shape, while 5.1% of girls and 5.7% of boys wanted to be larger. 46.2% of third grade girls and 49% of third grade boys were satisfied with their body image (current self = ideal self). By fifth grade, 40% of the girls and 34.7% of the boys wanted to be thinner than their current body shape, while 5% of girls and 12.3% of boys wanted to be larger. The level of body satisfaction increased from third to fifth grade among both the girls and the boys, where 55% of the girls and 53.1% of the boys were satisfied with their body shape.
The average BMI for all of the girls in the present study was 18.2. According to the growth charts for height to weight (BMI for-age-percentiles) from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 12 this is below the 75th percentile for a 9.5 year old. The average BMI for all of the boys was 18.7, which falls below the 85th percentile. By definition, a child is classified as obese if his or her BMI falls at or above the 95th percentile and is at risk of becoming overweight or obese if his or her BMI falls between the 85th and 95th percentile. On average, the children who participated in the present study fell within the normal weight range for their age and gender. When further analyzing BMI from each grade, again, both genders fell within the normal weight range for age and gender.